God and Religious Toleration/Afterlife
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Essentially there are five references to a life after death: the quantum physics (Professor Dürr), the near death research (Pam Reynolds), the after death research (Karmapa), the reincarnation cases (Shanti Devi) and the statements of the enlightened (the clairvoyant). There are many facts that point to the survival of the soul after death. The more one looks at the current science, the more appear inexplicable things for a materialistic world view.
Quantum Physics edit
Quantum physics has proven by physical tests that a higher dimension in the universe exists (Alain Aspect). The former head of the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich, Professor Hans-Peter Dürr believes that the brain by thinking forms a field of consciousness (quantum field) that can exist after the death of the body in the higher dimension further.
- You are 78 years old. Do you believe in for afterlife? Is there existence after death? Professor Dürr: "That is an interesting question. What we consider the here and now, this world, it is actually just the material level that is comprehensible. The beyond is an infinite reality that is much bigger. Which this world is rooted in. In this way, our lifes in this plane of existence are encompassed, surrounded, by the afterworld already. When planning I imagine that I have written my existence in this world on a sort of hard drive on the tangible (the brain), that I have also transferred this data onto the spiritual quantum field, then I could say that when I die, I do not lose this information, this conscioiusness. The body dies but the spiritual quantum field continues. In this way, I am immortal. "(P.M. Magazin 05/2007)
---> God and Quantum Physics (Wikibooks), God and Quantum Physics (Wikiversity)
Near Death Research edit
The doctor Elisabeth Kübler-Ross published her book „Interviews with the Dying“ in 1969. This book caused an extensive discussion concerning death in Western societies. Kübler-Ross stumbled upon the amazing fact that many people were able to encounter the other side during their brief deaths (before they returned to their bodies and to life).
During their lives on Earth, blind people can sometimes suddenly see from the other side. They can observe what happens on earth from the beyond. How could a blind person suddenly get knocked unconscious during the course of a car accident and then be able to see other people in the area of the accident and then describe the circumstances after being revived?
Especially well-known is the so-called dentures incident. An older man was taken to a hospital in the Netherlands to be operated. His dentures were taken out so that his throat could be more easily accessed. During the hustle and bustle of the operation, a nurse misplaced the dentures and couldn’t find them. Luckily, the man left his body during the operation and watched the nurse from above. After he returned to consciousness, the man was able to tell the nurse exactly where she had put his dentures.
In 1975 Raymond Moody wrote the book „Life After Death“. In this book, he documented the near-death experiences of 150 people. Many reported that after death they travelled through a dark tunnel and then arrived at a dimension of light. In the light world, they met holy light beings and even their already death relatives. They learned things they didn’t know before. After their near-death experiences, many people changed their lives completely and then oriented themselves around spirituality.
Many researchers have looked into the insight of Kübler-Ross and Moody. With a flood of arguments against these findings, the researchers tried to prove the near-death researchers wrong. The typical argument of such naysayers was usually that the near-death visions were biochemical (material) or psychic reactions of the mind caused by nearing death. Before death, it is alleged, humans have hallucinations. The brain reacts to death with a flood of hormones.
One of these main critics was Dr. Michael Sabom. After he read Moody’s book, he stated that he had looked into these matters thoroughly himself. He interviewed over a hundred patients, who after experiencing cardiac arrest, were revived. Sabom was amazed to find that these people had seen things outside of their bodies which they didn’t know before, that they witnessed things while unconscious.
The biggest scientific breakthrough for Sabom occurred in 1991 with Pam Reynolds. The special aspect of the case of Pam Reynolds lies with the fact that modern measurement equipment showed that the consciousness of a person exists even when the stuff of the brain is shut off. This leads one to conclude that there must be an independent consciousness separate from the body. The body and soul are two independent manifestations of energy.
The case of Pam Reynolds was tested with many other patients. They confirmed Sabom’s results. It was confirmed that the near-death experiences were not only of a biochemical nature or simply brain processes. They are independent of age, gender, religion, and of country of origin of the involved people. Scientific breakthrough occurred with the case of Pam Reynolds in 1991. Further tests (Pim van Lommel in Holland in 2001, Sam Parnia from the University of South Hampton in 2001) confirmed Sabom’s results.
Pam Reynolds edit
1991 the 35 year-old Pam Reynolds underwent a brain operation. Her blood was routed from her brain and she was placed in a state of artificial coma. Her head was attached with wires to measure brain waves. It was ascertained that no brain waves could travel during this half an hour. The thought processes were blocked, and examined as no hormone release could occur. Hallucinations were not possible in this state. And it just so happened that Pam Reynolds had her out of body experience at this time.
She floated with her soul out of her body. She observed from above all of the details of her operation. She then floated through a tunnel to a world of light. There, she met her dead grandmother and other people. The beings there lived in a paradise dimension and possessed positive energy. With their energy, they strengthened Ms. Reynolds so that she could go through her operation successfully. In a BBC interview, Pam Reynolds explained that she had experienced the breath of God.
German Television on Near-Death Research edit
In 2003, a program appeared on German television dealing with the topic of near-death research. Regine Kexel portrayed the arguments of the supporters and opponents of the soul theory according to the book Dimension Psi from Walter von Lucadou and came to the conclusion that there are many reports about near death research that cannot simply be ignored.
Regine Kexel presented the aforementioned arguments, and all the arguments of the opponents to the soul theory were refuted. The independence of the consciousness is currently the accepted view of science, in the words of Regine Kexel (translated from German): “Critics of near-death research are hard pressed to find a plausible reason for this phenomenon.”.
According to her opinion, we are positioned at the very beginning of a large puzzle. Here is where we must differ. Those who are concerned with spirituality already have an answer to the presented questions. The enlightened masters of the past have discovered the mysteries. One only needs to look further to find an answer to these questions.
For example, it is not entirely clear to the program moderator Kexel as to why not all those who brush with death go through have a near death experience as described. With adults, 30% go through this, and children to a percentage of 70%. The explanation for this is that most adults are so tied with their consciousness to their physical bodies that they remain in their bodies in these near death situations. Children have yet to really connect their spirits with their material bodies in such a strong way, and for this reason they leave their bodies more easily.
Careful consideration also raises the question as to why, when the reason for these near death experiences is only due to hormones and a lack of oxygen, and hallucinations, then do children and adults have such an unbelievable difference in the rate with which these near death experiences occur?
After Death Research edit
Enlightened Tibetan masters traditionally stay in their bodies for three days after death. This is recognized by the fact that their bodies do not begin to decompose and that the heart chakra is warm. This fact can be explained with the continuation of life after death. The 16th Karmapa died in 1981 in a hospital in Chicago. He stayed three days after his death with his soul in his body. The body did not rot in that time and the heart region was warm. Dr. Levy cared for him until his death:
- „48 hours after his death, his chest was still warm. In this moment, my hands were both warm, and his chest was warmer than my hand. In order to test this, I moved my hands to the side of his chest, away from his heart, and there it was cold. I then felt the middle again, and above his heart it was warm. I pinched his skin and found that it was still elastic and completely normal. After 36 hours, the dead typically have skin comparable to dough. And his skin was still like that of the living after 48 hours. It was as if he weren’t dead. Shortly after we left the room, the surgeon came and said, „ he is warm, he is warm.“ And then it came to be that the medical staff asked again and again if he were still warm. It was naturally consistent to the traditional Tibetan experience. Developed individuals like his Holiness stay in their bodies after breath and heartbeat have stopped, within a state of deep meditation. After three days the Samadhi ended. It was recognized that his Holiness was no longer warm and that the process of death set in. After this, the atmosphere changed, it too became normal.”(Quotes buddhismus-heute.de)
Reincarnation Research edit
The reincarnation research approaches more and more to the fact that there are past lives. Thousands of reports were investigated . The witnesses could accurately describe the previous places and situations, although they were never there and had heard nothing about it in the normal way. The most well-known reincarnation researcher in the West is Professor Ian Stevenson from the University of Virginia. He examined over the course of 40 years over 3.000 reincarnations situations throughout the world. Often, he noticed similarities in behavior and bodily signals in line with the former incarnation.
One of the most well-known cases of reincarnation in India is Shanti Devi. She was born in 1926 in New Delhi and could remember her previous life as a house wife in Mathura. Although she was never in that location, she was able to describe her previous husband, her previous house, and the city itself. She could even remember where she had always hidden her money in her former life.
- Nobody60, "My beliefs are based mainly on my own experiences. I have seen thousand previous lives in the course of my spiritual cleansing processes. After seven years as a Yogi, I was suddenly overcome by the wish to know my earlier life. I went back in my meditation to a previous time and felt resonance with a particular time. I felt a sort of resistance, and looked in that direction and could spiritually “see” four earlier lives. After eleven years as a Yogi, many former lives came in dreams to the surface of my consciousness. Differing from the conscious perceptions while meditating, very clear film-like scenes- appeared. I could see the details of the situations and the environment I was in at the time of the previous life. From the single pictures I could see geographical details."(The Science of Proving God’s Existence)
The Statements of the Enlightened edit
Who is enlightened can, thanks to its expanded consciousness, look in the beyond and know the life after death. One might think that the enlightened are imagining their perceptions. Against this speak, however, the attempts with the clairvoyants. The American professor Gary Schwartz tested the most well-known mediums of the United States from 1998 to 2001. The mediums could experience the beyond with their spirits and make contact with the dead. Gary Schwartz compared their statements about distanced things with a control group of average people. The medium had a ratio of correct answers of 83%, whereas the control group got only 36%. If the mediums know things far away it is very possible, that also their knowing about things in the beyond is correct. (Bernard Jakoby, Wir sterben nie, (2009).)
The Jellyfish Dream edit
In the year of 2001, a German Yogi saw himself as a jellyfish in a dream. This jellyfish was about to be eaten by a sea spider. The little jellyfish could not escape the spider, as it was stuck between the long legs of the giant spider. In the jellyfish’s state of desperation, it called to God. God gave the jellyfish the mantra “yes” (in German, "Ja"). The little jellyfish thought of the mantra over and over, and went through death in a state of affirmation, constantly repeating the word “yes”.
The black spider killed the jellyfish and the little jellyfish continued to think „yes, yes, yes, yes…“ while the Yogi noticed how his consciousness lapsed. His life disappeared. That was a very unpleasant experience, but through the mantra „yes“, he was able to keep his spirit stabile and positive. He did not get tense in the course of the death experience, and did not lose positive energy.
After his consciousness was extinguished, he moved ahead spiritually. Suddenly, Yogi was there again, and everything was light, peaceful and beautiful. The spider was no where to be seen. The Yogi was in a light dimension of the other side, and he felt good.
After a time, the Yogi woke up from the dream. He lay in bed again and found himself at home, as a person. He still felt happy though, and that day he took a long walk through trees and fields where flowers grew, as the sun shone on this beautiful day. The Yogi still had this cosmic consciousness with him from this paradise dream. He felt a large sense of peace, joy, and all-encompassing love for all beings and plants around him. He stayed in this state for three days after the dream.
Our Yogi saw this dream as a gift. In the dream, he learned that one can go through death more easily with a mantra. Those who die repeating a positive mantra can land in paradise after death. The knowledge of the death mantra was a saving grace for him. The concept of such is hardly known in the western world. Everyone must die one day. It is good to have a mantra at hand for this experience. Everyone can choose whichever mantra serves him or her. The mantra “yes” lent power and a sense of relaxation which is useful to go through death. Christians might have a prayer at hand. It is at any rate good to practice this mantra, so that when the time comes, the mantra comes to mind automatically.
